U.S. & LATIN AMERICA - CUBA REPORT

At least 20 U.S. representatives and four senators have come to Cuba so far this year on "fact-finding missions," often accompanied by agriculture executives hawking everything from Missouri rice and California beans to Washington apples.

In addition, former President Carter and two farm state governors -- George Ryan of Illinois and North Dakota's John Hoeven -- visited this year.

But when Tampa's Mayor Dick Greco arrived in secret last week along with some of his city's top business leaders and the past and present chairmen of the Greater Tampa Chamber of Commerce, he became one of the first elected Florida officials to lunch with Castro.

Passions divided his hometown's exile community. Some Cuban-Americans were outraged and disappointed that Greco would travel to Cuba without consulting them or visiting island dissidents.

"These are things we cannot understand. It's like he went against us 100 percent," said Emilio Vazquez Sr., director of the Cuban American National Foundation's Tampa Bay chapter. "He went there to see how the new administration here in Tampa will approach trade with Castro."

Greco's low-profile trip was paid for by the Washington-based Alliance for Responsible Cuba Policy, whose executive director and Tampa native son, Albert Fox, had for years encouraged Greco to visit Cuba.

With anti-embargo support in Congress stronger than ever -- and only eight months until the end of his term -- Greco decided the time was right.

"I've always wanted to see Cuba," he said in a phone interview. "I went away thinking how much better they [Cubans] could be. There are 11 million people, but 50 or 60 percent weren't even around when the revolution started. We need to see if there's some middle ground in helping the Cubans down there. After all, they are cousins, aunts and uncles of our people here."

Walking a diplomatic tightrope, Greco said he now understands better than ever the resentment and pain of some Cubans who fled their beautiful island. He stopped short of condemning the embargo as most American politicians do when they're in town.

"If President Bush figures the embargo should stay, I figure he knows more about that than I do," said Greco, adding that he did not pursue commercial opportunities for Tampa's port.

During the four-day trip, Greco and his delegation met Cuban tourism and finance officials as well as the Cuban president's national assembly. Before flying home, they lunched with Castro for five hours and 40 minutes, discussing Tampa's city government, real-estate prices and the lure of Walt Disney World.

Greco said he did not expect his visit to encourage other Florida politicians to come to Cuba. However, some Floridians, including a sector of the Cuban-American community, hoped others would follow in Greco's footsteps.

"It's very positive that the mayor of a Florida city has decided to break this taboo that elected Florida officials can't visit Cuba," said Elena Freyre, executive director of the anti-embargo, Miami-based Cuban-American Defense League. "I think it's foolish for a Florida city that has potential commercial ties [with Cuba] not to explore it. People in Miami are way behind the eight ball."

Monroe County Mayor Charles "Sonny" McCoy, who water-skied to Havana in 1978 as mayor of Key West, would have led one of the first South Florida delegations to Castro's Cuba if he hadn't canceled the trip this summer.

McCoy said the visit, which would have included officials from the Monroe County airports and ports, became meaningless after Bush reiterated his staunch support for the embargo in a May 20 Cuba-policy speech.

Political backlash from Monroe County Cuban-Americans was "negligible," he said. "We have a very large Cuban population here, but they know this isn't political. We're a little island just north of Havana."